I live in southern Colorado, where chorizo is fairly popular, and while I’ve no idea what’s in homemade chorizo, I’ve never seen a prepackaged grocery-store variety that didn’t mention salivary glands in the ingredient list. It always makes me wonder ehat happened to the nicely innocuous sounding “meat by-products.” I mean, I know I’m buying lips and assholes, but do they have to spell out what part of the lips? I try not to think about it when I eat. Mmmm…chorizo.
Here the Mexican delis make their own, and I’m fairly certain it’s offal-free. All the prepackaged varieties I’ve seen, though, have all sorts of extra bits and pieces. I have no problems with that, however the prepackaged varieties invariably cook down to nearly nothing, so I never buy them anymore. The meat counter natural-casing chorizos remain much more substantial after cooking, and taste much better.
Mmmm! Salivary glands! Doesn’t that make your mouth water!
The store where I work here in Dallas/Fort Worth carries Palacios and some other brand of Spanish dried chorizo, and there are quite a few around that cater to the Mexican market. It takes a bit of looking, but you can find any variety you want in any heat level. Many kinds do list salivary glands as the only meat.
I’ve said before that offal is surely the most ethical and environmentally friendly food possible. I mean, nothing gets killed for its salivary glands. I don’t think they even put that stuff in pet food! I’m saving it from the landfill when I eat it.
Sure, the price of chorizo provides some income to the meat industry, but I don’t think any change in the demand for chorizo will result in more or fewer animals being raised and slaughtered.